And you are?
by ScarletInk
Summary: Tricks abound as Lily & James realize they've never truly gotten to know each other, mostly because Lily refuses to spend time with James, who refuses to leave her alone! It's time they were introduced properly. MWPP
1. Snowfall

Disclaimer: Y'know what? If you haven't yet figured out that this really brilliant author named J.K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter books, then you must have been living under a rock all these years… wait, no, I take that back… even people who live under rocks know that. I do own Alyssa and Lauren, though.

It was an especially snowy winter at Hogwarts this year. The snow was so deep that if an unwary student happened to wander into the courtyard while it was snowing, it was unlikely that you would see them again for a very long time. Unfortunately (or fortunately…), this is what happened to Peter Pettigrew, and Sirius Black and James Potter were unlikely let him forget it for a very long time….

"So tell us, Wormtail, how much food should we pack for our journey to Charms? Should we bring a tent and blanket, too?" said Sirius, grinning.

"Yeah, Pete, you can lead the way to Care of Magical Creatures next time since you've already braved the great wilderness of the courtyard," added James, who was standing under a tree outside near the frozen lake with the rest of the Marauders, namely, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. All four of them were enjoying the Christmas holiday break; Sirius and James were busy pranking people and trying to impress the girls, Remus currently had his nose in a book, and Peter was trying his best to laugh off his latest stupid mistake.

"Hey, check it out, Prongs, your girlfriend is coming this way," muttered Sirius, who had his eyes on a group of girls walking out of the castle. James turned around.

"She's not his girlfriend, Sirius… in case you both haven't noticed, she pretty much hates him," said Remus, eyes still glued to his book.

Sirius grinned and clapped Remus on the shoulder, spraying him with snow. "Don't be such a wet blanket, Moony; you should be supportive of your mate's endeavors!" Remus shook the snow out of his sandy hair and continued reading, until…

"OY!" Remus had caught Sirius off guard with a handful of snow to the face; the two started wrestling, Remus's book forgotten at the base of the tree.

James, who had been staring at a certain red headed beauty the whole time and was too out of it to notice anything else, came to life and said, "She's not my girlfriend… yet. You three just wait."

Sirius paused, preparing to stuff another snowball into Remus's face. "We've been waiting for the past six years, mate." He was promptly pummeled by two snowballs, one from Remus, and one from James.

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Lily Evans loved winter. But it was with the same intensity that Lily loved winter that she hated James Potter. So when she spotted him hanging out with the Marauders under their usual tree, she turned around and began to head inside again. Unfortunately for her, her friends wouldn't allow it.

"Lily, no! You get back out here! You're coming with us!" shouted Lauren, grabbing Lily's arm and yanking her backwards. Lauren was a fellow Gryffindor 6th year and one of Lily's good friends.

"C'mon, look Lily, there's _snow_ on the ground! Go get it!" said another girl, as if bribing a little child to eat his vegetables. A short scuffle occurred, and in the end, after all three had been bopped in the face with scarves and mittens a great deal, they ended up lying in the snow, laughing.

The first girl, Lauren, popped up first and dusted herself off, shaking snow out of her long, blonde hair. She offered her hand to the second girl, who sported a dark, pixie-style haircut, who took it and pulled herself up. They both proceeded to walk towards the lake, leaving Lily in the snow.

"Hey, what about me? Lauren! Alyssa! Get your butts back here!" Lauren and Alyssa turned around and stuck out their tongues jokingly at Lily, but stopped walking to wait for her. Within a few seconds all three of them were headed to the lake, Lily steering the group well away from the Marauder's tree. It was going to be a great holiday…

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James watched the trio of girls all the way until they sat under a tree some fifteen or twenty feet away. Then he had an idea.

"Hey, you three, I've got an idea. Stop throwing snow for a minute! And I saw that, Padfoot!" He added after spotting Sirius, who was making faces at him and preparing another snowball. "Save that snowball, Sirius, you'll need it." And the Marauders huddled together, James explaining his plan, occasionally sneaking glances at Lily while he talked…

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Lily had led her friends to a tree near the shore of the lake, making sure it was far enough away from Potter, of course. Alyssa sat with her back against the tree, while Lauren stood and kicked at a piece of ice on the frozen lake. Before sitting, Lily took the smallest of half glances towards Potter. Good, he wasn't staring at her, for once. She then sat down with her back to them, hoping it would discourage Potter from asking her out for the thousandth time.

"Why d'you think they're so bad, Lily?" asked Alyssa, who had been watching Lily the whole time.

"What're you talking about?" Lily said casually, hitching up an innocent look.

"I saw you just now, you were checking to make sure _he_ wasn't staring at you." said Alyssa, "I can read you so well sometimes," she added. "They're really not that bad. Maybe they're a bit different, and they like to goof around, but they aren't bad, they really aren't." Alyssa was the only one out the group that really hung out with the Marauders. Lauren was too shy around new people to ever talk to them.

"SO… are you looking forward to the Christmas feast? I know I am… I hope that Dumbledore puts frost on the walls like he did last year," said Lily loudly, hoping to change the subject.

With a last pointed look at Lily, Alyssa replied, "Yeah, and the ball as well! I think tha-"

"_What?_ A ball! When were we supposed to hear about that?" cried Lily.

"Dumbledore only announced it last week, Lily," said Lauren, with wide eyes, "Honestly, I thought you, of all people, would know that…"

"No!" cried Lily, shaking her head, "No, I had absolutely no idea! And if-"

WHACK

Lily's head jerked forward as a fat snowball exploded, sprinkling snow down the back of her cloak. Lily shrieked as it trickled down the back of her neck. She could hear laughing behind her, and she didn't have to turn around to know exactly who it was coming from.

"Alyssa, I don't care what you say about them, they are _freaks_!" whispered Lily. Alyssa smirked and shrugged, and Lauren gasped and ducked behind Lily as four more snowballs went soaring in their direction. Each girl had their share of snow down their robes. Lily tried to ignore the second and third barrages of snowballs that came and wanted to continue normal conversation, but she was too distracted now and couldn't remember where she had left off.

"Okay. That's it. If that's how they want to play, then we're going to play it their way. You two, listen…"

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Perfect. It had gone perfectly. Almost. Lily had still not turned around, but if James knew her like he thought he did, then she was getting pretty angry right now. Now he would wait and see what she did.

"Okay you guys, give it a rest for a moment."

"It looks like they're plotting," said Sirius, eyeing the huddle of girls under the tree. He shook his long hair out of his eyes and said, "Now what're we doing?"

"Patience, young Padfoot, patience," said James wisely.

Now Lily was standing up… she was walking over! This was going to be great!

"James, you take full responsibility for my death, because that's what's coming," muttered Remus. "Or better yet, you tell her I had nothing to do with this."

"Nonsense, Moony, I saw you hit that Lauren girl with two snowballs! Just relax…"

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Lily had always been a quick thinker. Within thirty seconds her plan was complete, and Lily would have her revenge.

She got up and hooked a mysterious smile on her face and tried to walk seductively towards the group of boys (which was a bit difficult to do with so much snow on the ground). Within a few moments she had reached the tree.

"Hi James," she said playfully, leaning against the tree and looking down at him (for he was seated in the snow). She put one hand on her hip and the other arm behind the tree. Lily nearly burst out laughing when she saw James's reaction to her flirty tone.

A bit shell shocked, he replied in a deeper voice, "Hey… Lily."

Lily smiled her same mysterious smile and said, "Funny weather we're having, eh?"

James grinned, "Yeah, especially that blizzard we had just now, did you notice it? Strange how it seemed to land all on you."

Lily glanced upwards as if checking the sky, "I bet we'll be getting more snow soon."

"Really?" James asked, eyebrows raised. Switching topics before he lost his chance, he said, "Say, Lily, how about if you go with me to the b-"

_WUMPH_

Before he could finish his question, all the snow on the branches above the Marauders had cascaded down on top of them. Lily had hid her wand up her sleeve and blasted the branches before running away laughing. She glanced back as she neared Lauren and Alyssa, who were lying in the snow, laughing as well. All that remained was a large hill of snow where the famous pranksters once sat.

It was a full ten or twenty seconds before Lily spotted Sirus's dark head break the surface.

"You… three… this means… war," shouted the solitary head as two more popped out of the snow.

"Alright, Evans, I'll give you that. That was good," James yelled after spitting out a mouthful of snow. "Very clever. But I challenge you three," he pointed with his newly freed hand to the three girls, "to a snowball fight! We'll see who's so great then!"

Lily was about to make up an excuse somewhere along the lines of 'I don't have time for a snowball fight, especially one with you, Potter,' but before she could say anything, Alyssa jumped up and shouted, "Accepted! We'll beat you down, boys!"

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_That girl is amazing_, James thought. Honestly, just when he thought he had figured her out….

Sirius had already broken free of his snowy bonds and offered a hand to James. After getting up, James turned to Remus, who had dug himself out.

"I've half a mind to go and join them, Prongs," Remus said jokingly. "But I do call myself a Marauder, so… speaking of which… where's Peter?"

All three turned towards the snow pile and simultaneously stared digging furiously. Sirius found Peter first, lifted him out by his arms, and set him on his feet. He looked rather blue in the face but seemed otherwise normal.

"Alright," James said, in a tone similar to that of a coach giving a pep talk, "snowball fight. All out. We _must_ win."

"Why?" asked Peter.

"Because if we win, Lily is going to the ball with me."

There was silence for a few moments, and then Remus asked, "Does _she_ know that?"

More silence… "No. Not yet, anyways."

**Okay, more to come if you all Review! Oh, and please see my other fanfic, Politically Incorrect. It focuses more on Alyssa and Sirius, but it has some Lily+James, too. NO ONE has read or reviewed it yet (because it's lost deep in the bowels of the Harry Potter section), so please, if even ONE person leaves a review for it, I'll be happy. Just do a search for it, you'll never find it by flipping through the pages. THANX! Remember, R&R!**


	2. A Clever Plan

Sorry it's been a while… a _long_ while… I've taken a break, and I'm officially home from all my little vacationings, so _hopefully_ updates will be a bit faster… no guarantees, though. The other reason I have for not updating sooner is that… I'm not quite sure how you _win_ a snowball fight, as you will soon learn…

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Five minutes into the snowball fight, it was still unclear who was winning. Lily wasn't even quite sure _how_ a snowball fight was won, but continued to chuck snowballs at a ferocious rate towards James and his friends. At least she got some gratification when a particularly large snowball knocked James backwards into the snow. To her left, Lauren was rolling more snowballs, and slightly behind her, Alyssa was doing a complicated-looking war dance while simultaneously throwing two snowballs at Sirius. Her war dance must have ruined her aim, however, and one snowball landed ten feet to the right of Sirius, the other finding its way into Lily's right ear.

"Ow! Watch where you're throwing those!"

"Sorry, Lil," giggled Alyssa, before losing her balance and falling face first into the snow. Lily rolled her eyes when Alyssa didn't' get up. It was all her fault that Lily was wasting her time throwing snow at Potter, anyways. Not that Lily didn't enjoy it, though.

"Hey, Evans! Getting tired, yet?" James was shouting from behind a makeshift snow fort that the four boys had constructed. Tired? Lily Evans, tired? _How dare him,_ Lily thought.

"Only of your face, Potter," she spat back venomously. James only grinned. Then, unexpectedly, he ran towards Lily. Lily was highly confused now, and her first reaction was to pick up a fresh snowball and lob it at his face. He dodged it, however, and within seconds was standing in front of her, unarmed and smiling.

"How about we make a deal, Evans?"

"I don't agree to terms with the enemy, Potter."

James raised his eyebrows. "Well, excuse me. But just hear me out, first, will you? Good," without giving Lily a chance to argue, James continued. "No offense, but your team isn't that great at chucking snowballs. Why don't we call it a tie, and you can go with me to the ball next weekend?"

Lily couldn't believe her ears. Was this…this…kid, no…boy….no…_Marauder_ so desperate for her to go out with him?

"Look, Potter, I'm not even the one who wanted this snowball fight. I will admit, throwing snow at your arrogant face has been gratifying, although I thought more snowballs would have hit such a big head."

"Now, now, Lily, I know you're just trying to disguise the fact that you're desperately in love with me," said James, nodding and watching Lily's face grow a deeper shade of red than the cold had induced. "But how bad can it be? Keep an open mind, try something new. Who knows, you might like it," he added, grinning.

"I do have an open mind, Potter, but unfortunately your head is so big that it won't fit inside. _I_ am going stag to this ball, and nothing you do will change that."

James grinned at Lily's use of the word "stag", for indeed, that was his Animagus form. The sight of James's grin only seemed to aggravate Lily, for after letting out a frustrated growl she turned around and stalked inside.

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James turned around after watching Lily's back retreat through the castle's large doors. Sirius had snuck up on Alyssa and dumped a pile of snow on her, and Moony and Lauren had both given up the snowball fight and, by the looks of it, Remus was showing his book to Lauren, who was reading with interest over his shoulder. James turned to Alyssa.

"I need you to do me a favor, if you don't mind breaking a few school rules," muttered James. Alyssa gave one last hearty shove at Sirius, who fell backwards in the snow and seemed content to lie there.

"What? It depends what kind of rule, though. I can't afford a detention."

"No, you won't get a detention… as long as you're not caught. I just need you to bring a love potion into your dormitory. I'll buy it from Zonko's, but I need you to-"

"Now just wait a minute! I agreed that I'd nudge Lily in your direction, but I won't stand for this! I _am_ Lily's friend, after all!"

"No, no! You misunderstand me," said James quickly, seeing Alyssa's angry look. "Here's what I plan to do…"

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**I know it was kind of short, but I do have a plan of how the next chapter is going to turn out. In the meantime, Review plz! Or I'll think you all hate it and I'll be sad!**

**Love from,**

**ScarletInk**


	3. Eyes of Denial

**Sorry that that took a while! I've been working on summer reading for my English class. Bleh. Now that school's up, it might be a while between chapters, but don't worry, I won't abandon this story, I love it too much!**

The week seemed to pass by in a blur, and before Lily had even registered it, the ball had arrived. Lily was quite excited, although Alyssa's _extreme_ happiness was scaring her a bit.

Lily was standing in front of the mirror applying the last of her makeup when Alyssa bounded in from the bathroom. In the reflection, Lily saw Alyssa grinning from ear to ear and casting furtive looks her way. Lily stopped applying her lip gloss and turned to her friend.

"You're up to something."

Alyssa looked highly affronted. "No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are. Don't lie. You're up to something… or Sirius asked you to the dance... One or the other, take your pick. Your happiness breathes vibes of mischief."

Alyssa sat down at her dresser and put on gold earrings to match her magenta and gold-trimmed robes. It was a while before she answered. Finally, "dances can be a magical thing, Lily. You never know what can happen."

Lily smoothed the front of her emerald robes as she stood up and looked around. "Where's Lauren?"

"Oh, she left a few minutes ago. Said she was going to walk to the ball with _Remus_," said Alyssa with a giggle. "Of course, she's not _going out_ with him or anything… just _walking_." The two girls exchanged a look.

Lily smiled. "It's about time those two got together!

"I know! Maybe they will."

Lily was confused. "_Will_? Aren't they _already_…?" Alyssa stopped smiling.

"…Maybe… they… will… dance together?" Now Lily knew something was up.

"You _are_ hiding something." Alyssa didn't respond. She closed the drawer in her dresser and slipped something in her pocket.

"Let's go now, we don't want to be late," sang Alyssa, like a mother to her child.

When the two entered the common room Lily immediately noticed Sirius, for he stuck out in his spangled, color-changing robes. James was to his left in deep red which complimented his hair and eyes. Not that Lily cared, of course. Walking quickly to the portrait hole and half dragging Alyssa, who was apparently hypnotized by Sirius's technicolor display, Lily tried to avoid James. She was so near escape when he called out, "nice robes, Evans! But they'd look even better with dark red!" He indicated his own robes. Before Lily could even think of a response, Alyssa had jumped into the conversation.

"Then why don't you walk Lily down to the dance?"

Lily only had time to glare pleadingly at Alyssa before James had linked arms with her and was escorting her through the portrait hole. Blushing awkwardly, Lily searched for something to say but was saved the effort, as James spoke first.

"You look wonderful tonight."

"Good to know. Uhh… I like your robes, too," Lily blurted quickly, not looking at them. She instead stared at the ground, watching as the emerald and red folds swished back and forth as they walked. _James was probably very satisfied with himself,_ thought Lily savagely. As for herself, Lily couldn't believe that Alyssa could be so interfering. She loved her to pieces, but sometimes she could be so tactless.

"You realize that this is _not_ a date, right? And you do realize that my very big-mouthed friend planned this all, and I had nothing to do with it?" It seemed very important to Lily to establish this.

"Of course. I realize that you were entirely forced into this and that, had you _really_ disliked me with the passion that you say you do, you would have resisted vigorously."

Lily knew it would come eventually, but Lily was hoping that the bickering would be delayed by something, anything. Even awkward silence was better than arguing all the time. It tired Lily out, even though it was a way of life for her.

"I would _not_. That would have been rude!"

"And you consider burying people under avalanches to be polite?"

Lily could feel heat rising through the collar of her robes, and hoped that it didn't' show on her face. "You deserved it, and if I leave you standing here all alone without a partner to walk in with, you would deserve that, too!"

James grinned. "Since you seem to love giving me what I deserve, then why don't you go out with me?"

A stunned silence followed this elephant of a statement. Lily pulled her arm out of James's grasp and stared at him. "I think someone is a little conceited. What makes you think you deserve me?"

"I think _someone_ is being a little conceited. What makes you think I don't?" mirrored James. "After all," he continued when Lily didn't reply, "I _have_ been persistently trying ever since we met. Wouldn't anyone less-than-worthy have given up by now?" James waited for Lily to respond.

Lily had no idea how to react. James did have a- no, he didn't! ...But what he said! It really hit home; for all these years, Lily had despised James for his arrogance, and now, here, he had exposed her own. Lily felt simply horrible. But of course, she wouldn't let him know that.

Lily stared into his hazel eyes, but he didn't drop his gaze. And for the first time, Lily could see herself on the other side of his gaze; she was seeing herself in a whole new way.

Slowly the words came out, after what seemed like an eternity, with James still staring at her.

"We are not going out, Potter. Believe me, we never will." And with that, Lily turned and walked away. She soon disappeared around the corner, and James was left listening to her fading footsteps.

**R&R PLZ!**

**Yep, that was actually quite short… that was really only half of ch.3, but I wanted to post _something_ so that y'all wouldn't be waiting and waiting. The other half is all planned, I just need time to add the meat to it! Please be patient!**

**Love from,**

**ScarletInk**


	4. And you are?

Lily was about to enter the Great Hall alone. Indeed, she would have succeeded with this; however, she stopped suddenly as she reached the doorway, jaw dropped to the floor. All of the dozen Christmas trees had been decorated with a different theme: apparently, each school subject sported its own tree. Among them, Lily spotted the Potions tree, each bough decorated with miniature glittering potions, and the Transfiguration tree, home to what appeared to be live flamingos that took turns transforming into Christmas baubles. Lily continued to stare, but was thrust roughly into the room as a large group of third year girls entered. The giggling stampede rushed to the dance floor and Lily was shunted to the side into the prickly embrace of a large fir tree.

Lily wrestled with the tree for a moment (the enchanted tinsel garland had found it appropriate to snake its way around her head) before stepping out and dusting herself of pine needles. After a quick check of her reflection in one of the silver baubles, Lily made towards a nearby table; she was impeded again as the large doors swung open violently, knocking her into the Christmas tree again. Although she could not see who was behind them, judging by the shocked gasps, applause, and the return of the giggling mass of third year girls, Sirius had just walked in. As the doors shut behind him and the third years retreated grumpily at the sight of Alyssa, Sirius looked imperiously around, spotted Lily, and genially pulled her from the Christmas tree's branches as though she were some sort of overdressed pinecone.

"No need to hide, dear Lily, you need not enter the ball alone! I'll escort you two _lovely_ ladies!" and then aside to Lily, "Of course, if you hadn't blown James off, you wouldn't have to worry about taking shelter in the boughs of the Christmas tree, you know." With that, Sirius hooked a stammering Lily's arm with his own and strode to the table nearest the dance floor, Alyssa grinning and Lily looking around sheepishly.

Lily had just sunk gratefully into her chair when Alyssa yanked her up again and steered her towards the punch table.

"Punch, Lily?"

"Er, perhaps a bit later."

"Good. Here you go!" Alyssa thrust a goblet of punch at Lily, who had no choice but to accept as Alyssa turned to serve herself. Lily still had not drunk any when Alyssa turned around and began to steer Lily back towards the table. To Lily's great annoyance, James was now sitting in the chair across from the spot Lily had chosen.

"I'll just take this spot here," Lily said, trying to quickly sit in the chair at the very end of the table.

"Nonsense, you've already picked this one, across from James. Hello James," she added as they reached their (or rather, Alyssa's) destination. James grinned at the both of them.

"You two look lovely tonight," he said, looking at Lily. Lily inclined her head courteously before sitting down and examining her silverware excessively.

"Drink!" cried Alyssa's voice. Lily looked up. Alyssa was watching Lily closely and motioned for her to drink her punch. Lily took a sip.

"Are you feeling alright?" asked Alyssa, "you look sorta peaky."

"I'm fine. I just-"

"I know what you need! A dance!" gasped Alyssa. Lily would not stand for much more of this.

"I'm just fine thank you," she said in a cold voice, draining her punch and standing up to go nowhere in particular. Maybe she _would_ seek refuge in one of the friendlier Christmas trees, after all. Perhaps flamingos made good conversation.

However, James, no matter what Lily had just said, must have taken her standing up to mean "dance with me," and jumped from his chair immediately as though he had sat on a pin. At the end of the table, he tapped her on the shoulder. Lily spun around. Her eyes fell on the hand extended towards her, then followed the arm up to the face. James!

"Would you care to dance with me?"

Lily was so tired of this. She spat out a quick, almost resigned answer.

"Yes."

…She had perfect reasoning for this (or, that's what Lily was telling herself, anyways). Just concede a little, and then maybe James would leave her alone. She had been meaning to spit out a vehement "No!" but her mouth mutilated the words before they had even left her and now, she was out on the dance floor, hand in hand with James. Yes, she had perfect reasoning for this.

Lily entered an almost semi-conscious state as her body went on auto-pilot and her thoughts separated themselves from her conscious mind. James took her hand and began to guide her through the dance, and Lily found it quite… respectable, almost, that James knew what he was doing. Lily would have continued on with her detached documentary-like view of everything, but James's voice broke the silence. It took Lily a few moments to register that he was talking.

"-you thought, huh?"

"Er…yeah," said Lily, trying to replay what he had said in her mind so that she could figure out what he was talking about.

"Really? You think so?"

The truth was probably better in the long run. "Forgive me Potter, I was distracted by those flamingos over there." The complete absurdity of her statement struck Lily like a Bludger, and before she could help herself, she burst out laughing. She laughed so hard that she actually put her head down and leaned into James for a brief moment. When she realized what she was doing, she pulled away a respectable distance and lifter her head. She could see that James had been laughing, too.

"At first, I had no idea what you were talking about," he said between laughs. James gazed into her eyes, and Lily immediately flushed and dropped her gaze. He continued, "I figured someone had spiked your punch or something."

Lily laughed some more, and then stopped suddenly. "Excuse me." She let go of his hand and walked quickly to the table where Sirius and Alyssa were still seated, leaving a puzzled James behind. Alyssa was showing a small, pink bottle to Sirius.

"Ooh, what's that, Alyssa?" asked Lily pointedly.

"Oh hi, done dancing so soon?" her friend replied.

"Yes. What is that?" asked Lily again.

"Oh. What, this? Only perfume," she stated, slipping it into her pocket.

"I don't smell any perfume. I thought you hated perfume. Why are you wearing perfume?" Lily asked, getting more nervous, suspicious, and angry at the same time.

"I don't hate perfume. Are you feeling ok, Lily, you look a bit funny," Alyssa asked seriously. Lily began to back away.

"Excuse me." She turned and walked hurriedly into the Entrance Hall. Lily felt dizzy, flushed, and confused. She seated herself a few steps up on the staircase, putting her head in her hands and taking deep breaths. She felt like she would pass out at any moment.

"This is stupid. What's going on? This is stupid. I can do this. This is stupid. I can't do this. What am I doing? This is stupid…." She continued this mantra for some time. Lily's thoughts were going so fast, she felt almost like a spectator, watching them in a blur as her mind began to think without her. Her pulse was racing. Lily tried to take deep breaths, calming herself down a bit. Perhaps this feeling of being taken up in a whirlwind was just a side effect of the potion. The potion! How could Alyssa do such a thing! Lily felt so… betrayed? Not entirely. Lily didn't know what she felt now; all she knew was that it _wasn't _normal, and that she would have to deal with it until a better solution came up.

A sliver of light and warm laughter split the darkness of the Entrance Hall as the doors opened; as quickly as it had appeared, it died, and Lily heard footsteps coming her way. All Lily wanted to do at that very moment was curl up into a ball and sink into the shadows. She felt like a fish out of water, completely out of her environment and very, very freaked out.

"Lily?" Lily's pulse raced. She wanted to say, "She's not here right now," but resisted. The statement was true, anyways. This was not Lily. It was as though some strange creature had possessed her.

"Are you alright?" James peered around the great banister to where Lily was seated. How many times had Lily heard that question tonight? She tried to speak, but was unable to make a sound.

"Have I offended you somehow? If I have, I'm so sorry, please know that I didn't mean it." James sounded desperate, worried.

Lily found her voice, or the remains of it, anyhow. She half spoke, half whispered, "I think you're right."

There was a pause in which James walked around the banister and up to where Lily was seated, sitting down next to her.

"About what? Offending you? Please, I didn't mean to. I-"

"No, I'm not offended. You've been right. About…about…" she took a deep, steadying breath. "Everything," she concluded.

"What makes you say that?" he asked. Lily acknowledged that James was not being arrogant at all about this, but rather, he was being extremely un-James-like, a sweet gentleman.

"I've been very conceited. And you do deserve some credit, for being-well, _resilient_ is a good word-all these years. And someone _has _spiked my punch," she added as an afterthought. She gave James some time to digest this.

When enough time had passed that even such a big-headed person as James could understand what she had said, Lily continued.

"However, I want you to know that whatever you might think, there is nothing going on between us, Potter. Whatever state you've seen me in tonight was potion-induced, so don't go around with the idea that, somehow, y-"

"Wait, wait, how do you know your punch was spiked?"

"I saw Alyssa with a bottle of… of potion. Love potion." Lily blushed a little as she said this."

"Lily, I know you're a bit angry at Alyssa, but maybe you're just mistaken?" James suggested.

"No, I _know_ potions, James, and _that_ was definitely a love potion!" Lily was getting frustrated now, as her anger and confusion compounded itself and snowballed. She stood and paced on the step above where James was seated, silent.

After a moment, James rose and leaned against the banister. "…James?" he asked. He looked bemused and lost, as though he had just woken up.

"Yes," she said, trying to save face. "er, that's your name, isn't it?" Lily asked. She found herself biting back a laugh at the look on James's face. Plastering a stern scowl on her face, Lily stared at James. He did not say anything, and as Lily kept staring, she noticed that his eyes were hazel. Well, she had always _known_ that, but she really _realized_ it at that moment.

"James Potter, at your service," said James, with a flourish and a bow, attempting to recover from the silence. "And you are?" he asked, looking up into her eyes again.

Lily giggled at the questioning look on his face, then stopped abruptly when she realized what she was doing. Stupid love potion. Her moods were changing so fast, one moment she was laughing, the other she was annoyed. It was almost like PMS.

Slightly annoyed, slightly amused, she said, "You know who I am, I'm Lily!"

"No, I don't think I know you. The Lily _I_ know doesn't' seem to like me very much," said James, softly.

Lily giggled again. Then stopped. Stupid love potion. She needed to get out of there before she did something stupid in her potion-induced state. Lily sighed and began to walk away.

"See, _this_ is the Lily _I_ know," called James at her retreating back.

"No, it isn't, Potter. This is a Lily drugged by her own best friend. I'm leaving before I do something stupid."

"We're back to Potter, now?" James asked. "Lily," he said as he rushed after her and blocked her from leaving the Entrance Hall, "what are you afraid of?"

Lily took a deep breath. "Falling in love."

Stupid love potion.


	5. Silence, Stamps, and Slaps

**Here's a little excerpt from the last chapter, since it's been so long… sorry! Thanx for your patience! It's that time of year for college hunting and BIG test taking… mlegh… I hope you all still love me!**

See, _this_ is the Lily _I_ know," called James at her retreating back.

"No, it isn't, Potter, this is a Lily drugged by her own best friend. I'm leaving before I do something stupid."

"We're back to Potter, now?" James asked. Silence answered him. "Lily," he said as he rushed after her and blocked her from leaving the Entrance Hall, "what are you afraid of?"

Lily took a deep breath. "Falling in love."

Stupid love potion.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

James stood as though a fresh avalanche of snow had collapsed on him, only instead of feeling cold and smothered, he felt rather hot and flustered. Suddenly his robes felt much too warm for him. Lily stood stock still with eyes as big as teacups.

"Why?" James whispered. His voice remained calm, although his eyes had momentarily reflected the same shocked look in Lily's. Lily didn't say anything, but clapped one hand to her mouth, the other going into her robe for her wand. She rummaged for a few seconds through the emerald fabric and whipped out her wand.

James thought for a moment that she was going to jinx him, but his fear disappeared as she jabbed the wand at her own mouth and muttered "_Silencio!"_

"Why- what are you doing!" James said, totally put-off and half laughing. After doing this, Lily seemed at a loss at what to do next. James felt the tension in the air shatter as he watched Lily, who appeared to be trying to do so many things at once and looked so pitifully confused that James nearly reached out to hug her. While attempting to walk away, curse James, put her wand away, stamp her foot, and yell something hurtful at the same time, Lily opened her mouth to retaliate; nothing came out. She shut her mouth and gave James an exasperated look before stamping her foot again and turning to maneuver around James, back into the Great Hall. James stuck out an arm to stop her, the red fabric of his sleeve brushing Lily's red hair.

He pulled out his wand and wordlessly performed the counter-curse, the tip of his wand barely an inch away from her lips. Light dancing in his hazel eyes, he said simply, "You haven't answered my question yet." Lily stared and took a breath.

"I figured that with the rude gestures and miming you would get the point," Lily said sharply, "but I guess you don't read body language very well."

James immediately thought of several ways to respond to that statement, all of which, he figured, were not what Lily wanted to hear at the moment.

"So, tell me, are we going to wait around all night, or are you going to tell me your answer?" After a moment's silence, he continued, "we can discuss this elsewhere… say, a secluded corner in the Astronomy Tower?" James grinned and waggled his eyebrows, Prongs the Marauder gaining the best of him. A moment later he regretted it as, in a whirl of emerald green, Lily's hand rose up and sped towards his face. He flinched in spite of himself, yet the blow never came. James opened his eyes to meet the gaze of a very fiery Lily whose palm was millimeters from his face. For a moment they stared at each other, and James was afraid that she would explode. Her other hand came up and James, expecting another (real) blow, shut his eyes. Her palm met his face and….


	6. Surprises

_**SMACK!**_

Haha, no, just kidding…

…before James knew it, Lily had guided his face towards hers, gently, yet passionately, and their lips met….

…

After several seconds of pure bliss and fireworks unlike any he had ever seen before (even while being cursed by the same girl who was now fearlessly near-snogging him), they broke apart.

* * *

She was kissing James. James Potter. She didn't mean it of course. It was more of an accident. She had really meant to _slap_ him. This was just sort of mistake, a glitch in the laws of motion. Her hand had changed paths at the very last moment, and instead of creating a resounding smack on his face, it caused a collision. On their lips. Just an accident, really.

Which totally explained why, when James began to pull away, Lily lingered. Then reality (or as close to reality as things came that night) hit.

"Mleah! We! You! How-?" Lily trailed off, looking utterly horrified and amazed.

James took a second to regain full use of his mouth and lungs before replying. "Dang, Lily! That-"

"HOW _COULD_ YOU?" Lily shrieked icily, waving her arms wildly, "You, taking advantage of me, you _knew_ my freak of a friend gave me a love potion tonight, and yet you-"

"Wha- Lily! I did no such thing!" But she didn't hear him. She had already spun in a furious whirlwind of dress robes and left. James bolted into the Great Hall, but Lily's jewel-bright hair could be seen bobbing halfway across the room. She would make it out the other door in no time.

James attempted to race after, but was short-stopped by Alyssa, who had fire in her eyes.

"What did you do, Potter! We had an agreement! _What did you do!_" she growled lethally, her hands snatching at his sleeve.

James barely had time to recover his senses. He shook his arm out of her grasp and stated, "Nothing, I swear, she-"

"I don't want to hear excuses!" With that, Alyssa turned away to follow Lily at a brisk walk, which was all she could achieve in the crowded hall. James watched her retreat, too, hope draining every second. Then Sirius's voice wafted over from somewhere to his right.

James turned to see the fellow Marauder wading through a swamp of simpering girls towards him, concern on his face. "What happened, man?" he asked, clapping James on the shoulder in a brotherly way. James only shook his head and shrugged.

Sirius was silent for a moment, then shook his head, too. "Girls," he sighed melodramatically, "sometimes they can make your life- Oy! Leave that alone!" he interrupted himself to yell at a fourth year girl who was trying to yank out a strand of his long, dark hair as some sort of trophy. All the girls who were giggling abruptly stopped and looked away, as though they hadn't been involved. Sirius shook his magnificent head and continued. "Sometimes they can make your life a living-"

"S'okay, Padfoot, I know," James replied. After a moment he said, "I think I'm going to go for a walk, then turn in. Wanna come?" Sirius nodded.

"Nothing to do now that my main attraction left," he sighed, looking out the door the two girls had just exited through, although he seemed quite happy that James was back. "Wanna talk, man?"

"Yeah, let's just get out of here, first." The two Marauders made their way out of the hall again. As they passed through the doorway, Sirius accidentally bumped into a girl with long, blonde hair, who was half-concealed in a Christmas tree.

"Sorr-" Sirius began to apologize, but stopped midway, as he saw, over the blonde girl's head, Remus's sandy blond hair tangled in the evergreen branches. James, who hadn't noticed that Sirius had stopped, turned around and began to walk back.

"Keep walking, Prongs," Sirius muttered quickly, half-skipping out of the doors into the hallway and guiding James with a hand, "I think our mate Moony is busy right now."

James smiled slightly. "At least one of us had some luck tonight."


	7. Deception

Lily was lying on her four post bed with the curtains drawn when she heard the door bang open. Lily rolled over to face the opposite direction just in time as, two seconds later, the curtains flew open and Alyssa said gravely, "What did he do!" Lily pretended to be asleep. Alyssa marched to the other side of the bed and flung open the other set of curtains. Lily promptly rolled over again, burying her head in her down pillow.

"What did that b-"

Lily interrupted, "Why are _you_ so concerned what he did or didn't do? He wouldn't have done it if you'd effing left my punch alone!" Lily half-shouted. Silence ensued.

"Lily… I didn't put anything in your punch." Alyssa said. Lily nearly laughed, mirthlessly and cynically, into her pillow.

"Of course you didn't," Lily mocked, "_It was perfume_." Lily paused for dramatic effect before continuing, "You never wear perfume, Alyssa."

"No, you're right. But you're wrong about me spiking your punch, Lily! Look!" Lily heard ruffling as Alyssa searched her pockets. Seconds later, a tiny, pink bottle with a golden cap landed softly on the comforter next to her head. Lily stared at it before picking it up.

"This _is_ love potion. Or have you forgotten how to read?" Lily asked, pointing to the sickeningly ornate label enscribed

"_Scarlet's Best Since 1534: Love Potion_

_Seductive Strawberry"_

"Shake it, smart one," Alyssa said, although not harshly. Lily threw it back down on the comforter, hard. The cap flew off and ricocheted off the bed, landing in one of Alyssa's bunny slippers next to her trunk.

"See? It's empty!" Alyssa said, apparently thinking this solved the matter.

"Yeah, because I drank it!"

"No. It's dry inside."

"You dried it," Lily replied, quickly.

"I did not."

There was another pause as Alyssa thought. Then, she promptly ran to her trunk and began to throw things out of it. Lily watched, faintly amused in spite of herself, as socks, _Fashionable Witches_ magazine, a bag of _Walbert Heezer's Magical Cough Drops_, and an unrolled poster featuring three handsome guitar players scattered themselves upon the faded carpet. Lily stuffed her chin grumpily into her pillow to hide any hint of a smirk.

"Aha!"

Lily wiped away any hint of a smile. Alyssa held up an equally tiny bottle not unlike the ones they sometimes used in Potions, which was filled with thin pink potion. Alyssa picked her way through the mess to Lily's bed and uncorked the bottle, shoving it under Lily's nose.

"Smell it? Strawberry." Lily stared stonily at the bottle and sat up.

"Then what did you put in my punch!" she cried.

"Lily, Lily," Alyssa sighed, shaking her head, "you're paranoid!" After grinning, she continued, "_I didn't put anything in your punch!_" Lily shook her head violently.

"Then why did I feel… How come I wanted… How do you explain why I was… why I k-… why _we_… kissed?" she finished, barely audible. Alyssa grinned again.

"So _that's_ what happened? You guys kissed! Gosh, Lily, you had me so scared!" Alyssa laughed in relief and ruffled her hair. "I though he… the way you were acting I thought he'd… attacked you or something."

"You don't seem too disturbed with the fact that I just kissed my worst enemy," Lily muttered glumly."

"Your _enemy_? Lily, you don't hate him! You two kissed!"

_And that's what makes it so bad._

"I _do_ hate him! And we kissed! That's _bad_!"

_Actually, _you_ kissed _him_…_

"Lily… why'd you kiss him if you 'hate' him, then?" Alyssa asked, waggling her fingers around the word "hate," a habit Lily had always found annoying. Lily blushed faintly, but collapsed face-down on her bed again to hide the fact.

"I wooden a kiffed'm yoo didn pahpo shunin m'dring!" Lily said forcefully, as warm air forced itself up her nostrils; she had to break contact with her pillow to avoid suffocation. Alyssa smiled sweetly.

"Could you repeat that, please?"

"You put potion in my drink. I wouldn't have kissed him if you didn't' spike my punch!" Lily said with increasing intervals of volume. She blushed again and returned to hiding in her pillow.

"I didn't!" Alyssa hesitated, and she looked like she was trying to say and not say something at the same time. After a deep breath, she said softly, "I pretended. I pretended to put love potion in your punch. I was… I was playing with your mind, Lils. I can see that you like him, but you won't give yourself the chance."

Lily promptly willed herself to be swallowed up by her mattress. After ten seconds of squinting she began to develop a headache. She kicked her right foot. The mattress was still there. There was no escape.

"I hate him." Lily declared, lifting her face out of the pillow again. Why didn't Alyssa understand!

"You do _not_! Why did you let him kiss you, then?"

Lily felt the back of her neck glow. What _really_ happened, the fact that it was_ her_ who had kissed _him_, was locked away in her head, and it was going to stay there. Lily changed the subject quickly.

"What were you thinking, Alyssa? Okay, fine, you didn't' spike my punch, but pretending to was just as bad!" Alyssa smiled.

"But you _thought_ that there was potion in your punch. And because of that, you let your _real_ feelings out, for once. The only thing you were drugged with tonight, Lily, was love. Not love potion. Love."

Lily sat up again and sighed. "There are people in the Muggle world just like you. They are doctors that give their patients placeboes. Fake medicine that makes patients feel better because they think it's real. Which often results in lawsuits," Lily paused, remembering that Alyssa was pureblood and had no idea what she was talking about. "You are a sneak," she continued, to put it in plain terms. This only seemed to hearten Alyssa, who seemed rather flattered.

"But now things are out in the open, and you and James both know how you feel about each other! No more hiding and putting on airs and-"

"I was _not_ putting on airs! I don't like him!" Lily cried, pummeling her bed with her fists like a child having a tantrum, "Not one bit! Besides-"

Suddenly, Lily realized something. She and Alyssa both knew that there was no love potion in her punch… but James (_No. Potter_, Lily told herself) had no idea. He didn't know that Lily was acting out of her own free will (or so to speak. Lily refused to believe that it was her own free will, but, rather, due to raging hormones).

_So if James still thinks that there's anything between us, I can just blame it on the potion!_

Lily sat up straight and pointed a commanding finger at her friend. "You are not to tell James Potter that you didn't put potion in my punch. He still thinks that you did, and it's going to stay that way." Alyssa stared at her, and Lily thought she saw the faintest hint of pink tinge her friend's face. Alyssa cleared her throat.

"Okay," she said after a few seconds, "I won't tell him." Lily smiled.

"Good."

Lily motioned for Alyssa to come sit beside her, which she did. The two girls hugged, and Lily said, "I'm glad things are cleared up," and after a pause, "I'm sorry I yelled at you." Alyssa patted Lily's back.

"That's okay. I'd be a little freaked out, too, I guess… but you can't deny that it'd be quite fun to snog someone under the influence of love potion…" Lily bopped her with a pillow.

Escaping from the attack, Alyssa rolled off the opposite side of the bed and moved towards the door. "Okay, princess," she called, grinning at Lily, "I'm going to go back downstairs and say goodnight to Sirius. I sorta ran off when I saw you leaving…"

"Yeah, okay. I'm going to bed. And _remember_ what I said. Don't tell James anything," Lily said, threatening Alyssa with another pillow.

Alyssa smirked and blushed a little, "Don't worry, Lils, I won't. Now go to sleep and dream about your Prince Charming!" She slipped out the door and shut it just in time before Lily's pillow collided with the spot where Alyssa's face used to be. Lily heard rapid footsteps echoing down the staircase until they faded away.

Lily sighed and began to change out of her dress robes. As long as _Potter_ never found out about the love potion, things would continue as they were before.

Unknown to Lily, Alyssa was racing through the halls, trying to find James. Plan A had pulled through, after all. All James had to do now was play a little game of make-believe and, with some luck, things would work out, after all.


	8. Plan A and a Half

**THANKS FOR BEARING WITH THE REALLY SUPER LONG WAIT! I LOVE YOU ALL! If you don't remember what's going on, might I suggest re-reading the previous chapter?**

* * *

Meanwhile…. 

James and Sirius were walking aimlessly through the stone corridors somewhere in the general vicinity of the kitchens. James ran his fingers over the stones in the wall as he walked.

"So, what happened, mate?" Sirius asked. James was grateful that he was not asking the usual questions like, "How far did you get?" and, "Was she a good kisser?" He had the feeling that Sirius mainly asked those questions for show, to keep up his reputation as the incorrigible ladies man, and now that it was just the two of them, Sirius had settled into a more serious attitude.

James didn't know where to begin. He took a deep breath and said, "I don't know… honestly," he added when Sirius gave him the Yes-You-Do Look. "Remember last week when we had the snowball fight, and I made that deal with Alyssa about the love potion?" Sirius nodded. "Well, it worked, sort of. Alyssa pretended to spike Lily's punch like we talked about, and Lily believed it, like we talked about, and then…." James trailed off and stopped walking to stare at a small portrait of a short wizard in an apple orchard who was trying to pick an apple just out of his reach. James watched him half-heartedly without talking.

Sirius stopped walking to join him. "And then…?"

"And then we kissed." James said, still watching the wizard jump up and down. He heard Sirius let out a low whistle and saw the brief flash of his white teeth in the torch light as he grinned.

"Score! One point for Potter!" Sirius said, laughing, punching the air and jumping up and down, not unlike the wizard in the portrait, who stopped jumping abruptly to ask if Sirius was mocking him. Sirius just shook his head, still grinning.

"But that's the end of the good news," James said dully. "She immediately said I was taking advantage of her and stormed away!" Sirius looked scandalized. James resumed studying the portrait. The wizard had gotten a hold of the apple and was tugging furiously at it. It broke off suddenly, sending the branch flying upwards into the tree where it triggered an avalanche of apples that fell on top of the wizard, knocking him to the ground. Sirius let out a bark-like laugh and James, in spite of himself, smiled.

"That looks familiar, doesn't it, Prongs?" Sirius asked. When James gave him a perplexed look, he continued, "Last week before the snowball fight, when Lily made the snow in the tree-"

"Ah!" James said, laughing a bit, "We shall not speak of that, Padfoot…. Too embarrassing." James, however, contrary to what he said, thought of it as just one more reason to admire Lily Evans. This, of course, returned James to his previous depression, remembering the reason that he was walking with Sirius in this deserted hallway instead of snogging Lily in the prefects' bathroom.

Sirius continued to walk and, after making sure James was still with him, said, "Well, Prongs, let me get this straight. Lily _thinks_ she was under the influence of love potion tonight, she kissed you, and now she thinks it was your fault?"

"For taking advantage of the fact that her drink was spiked," James continued. "But it _wasn't_ spiked."

Sirius thought for a moment. "So Lily doesn't know that it was all just a scam?"

James stopped walking. Alyssa would have told Lily, James thought. "Alyssa was pretty angry with me after she saw Lily leave, she probably thought I was up to no good-"

"I don't blame her," Sirius joked. James pushed him into the wall before continuing.

"So I'll bet that Lily already knows that Alyssa was just pretending. Alyssa would have told her. Which sucks, really."

"No, it doesn't! Really!" Sirius insisted when James eyed him skeptically. "Now Lily will realize that it was her _true_ feelings that made her want to snog you, not some stupid love potion. And then," Sirius gasped, as thought hit by some inspiration, "Lily Evans will come running to you, crying and overwhelmed by emotion, and confess that she's been wrong about you all along, and you will take her in your arms and tell her that it was about time she'd come to her senses, and then snog her senseless anyways!" Sirius retrieved a Butterbeer bottle cap from his pocket and threw it up in the air, catching it with a flourish as if to emphasize the smoothness with which this plan would work.

James shook his head. "Alyssa was pretty mad. She'll have told Lily that it was _my_ idea, as well. Which will lead to Lily running up to me, crying and overwhelmed by emotion, and confessing that she's been right about me all along, and then smacking me senseless." James paused.

Sirius, not put out, said, "I guess it's time to move on to Plan B, then!" James had to admire his friend's loyal persistence.

Suddenly the pair stopped. They could hear footsteps echoing down the hall around the corner. Sirius pulled James behind the nearest suit of armor.

"You got the Map?" Sirius asked in a whisper. James shook his head silently and pointed upwards to indicate that it was seven floors above them, in the dorm. They stood silently and as still as shadows, waiting.

Ten seconds later, the petite silhouette of Alyssa rounded the corner, illuminated by her wand. Sirius immediately stepped around the suite of armor and grinned.

"Hey, long time, no see," he said, reverting back to his characteristic Sirius-the-Ladies-Man voice. James joined the two of them in time to see Alyssa sneak a smirk at Sirius.

"I came to tell you that Plan A is still up." Alyssa said to James. James stared, dumbfounded.

"You- you didn't tell her about the plan?"

"Or course not. We made a deal, right, Potter?"

James shrugged. "I sorta assumed that in your anger you went and burned up the contract," he said dryly.

"Well, I told her that I faked the whole drink deal. She would have killed me if I didn't," she added as Sirius gave her an inquisitive look. "But I didn't tell her anything else."

"Wait, so… Lily knows about the plan?" James asked.

"Yes and no. _Lily_ thinks that _you_ think that she was under the influence of a love potion tonight." Alyssa explained.

"Uhh…." Sirius said, confused, although James suspected that it was because he had been staring at Alyssa the whole time without listening to what she was actually saying.

Alyssa sighed and lightly smacked Sirius's shoulder. "_Lily_," she said slowly, using her hands to draw a diagram in mid-air, "doesn't know that _James_ knows about the scam. So she thinks she has James fooled into thinking she wasn't in her right mind tonight. She doesn't know you're in on it. I didn't mention you at all," she said aside to James.

"Wait, this is good-" James said, smiling.

"For you, it is. _You_ know she was acting out of her own free will, and so does she, but she doesn't know that you know, and_ there is no way that you are going to tell her!_" Alyssa said, suddenly stern.

James frowned, "But why? It only proves that she doesn't hate me after all-"

"When will guys ever realize that they don't always have to prove themselves right!" Alyssa said, exasperatedly.

Sirius snickered, and looked as though he was about to contribute something undoubtedly witty and semi-inappropriate here, but Alyssa cut him off.

"If you tell Lily that you know about the plan, she'll freak out. Think about it, James. It would prove that she's been wrong about you, which Lily would never admit..." James put on a puppy face. "To you, anyways…" Alyssa added.

"Wait," James said, excited, "are you saying that-"

"No, no, sorry, that's not what I meant," said Alyssa, making great erasing gestures in the air with her hands. "I just meant that Lily has too much pride to admit that to your face. Not unlike anyone I know," Alyssa teased, staring pointedly at Sirius and James.

"Hey, I'm not proud, I'm just right," said Sirius, with a little flick at Alyssa's sleeve.

"Oh, don't even get me started!" Alyssa half-yelled, trying to punch Sirius jokingly. He caught her wrist in mid-air and smiled charmingly.

"Started on _what_, exactly," he asked, raising an eyebrow and smirking seductively.

James had to put his foot down. "Okay, you two, you can do whatever you want later, just make sure you tell me when and where so I know not to go there."

"He just wants to know when and where so he can bring Lily and join us!" Sirius said in a stage whisper behind his hand to Alyssa. James shook his head and walked towards a large portrait of a fruit bowl. He tickled the pear and, as the portrait swung open and the sweet smells from the kitchen issued out, James yelled back at the two, "I'm going in here… if you'd like to join me you'd better hurry up or I won't leave any for you."

Sirius, who looked like he had other ideas, now looked torn between the idea of Alyssa or free food. Alyssa, however, said, "Lily could use some chocolate," and went to join James in the kitchen, dragging a Sirius who looked only slightly disappointed when the smell of chocolate éclairs reached his nose. Soon, any trace of a missed opportunity to snog Alyssa appeared to have left his mind as the two Marauders and Alyssa accepted trays of goodies to haul back up to the Gryffindor common room.

"So, if Plan A isn't completely useless, then what do we call James's new attempts to woo Miss Evans?" Sirius asked between mouthfuls of something chocolaty. "I mean, Plan A worked, sort of, so we can't exactly move on to a Plan B if Plan A worked. Now we're sort of going off on a tangent of Plan A, what do we call it?"

"Plan A-and-a-Half," Alyssa said without hesitation. Sirius paused thoughtfully (or perhaps because he was trying to swallow such a large mouthful) and nodded approvingly.

"Whaddya think, Prongs?" Sirius called to James, who was roasting an éclair over the roaring fireplace. James turned.

"As long as it works, I don't care what it's called," James replied.

Sirius grinned. "That's m'boy," he said genially.

* * *

**Thanks for waiting, I hope I haven't lost anyone... and I hope that I didn't confuse you with all of this "_he thinks that she thinks that he thinks_" stuff...** **Please REVIEW and let me know I'm loved... :P Thank You Much!**

** ScarletInk **


	9. Luck All Around

Luck All Around

As much as she hated talking to him, and even more so now that she had succeeded in encouraging his ceaseless come-ons with a kiss (albeit a _supposedly_ love-potion-induced one), Lily did not hesitate in striding up to Potter in the Entrance Hall immediately after her late lunch (she had spent her morning plotting exactly what she was going to say and how long it was going to take her, even commandeering Lauren as she was on her way out the door to stand in as James while Lily revised her monologue. After five minutes, Lauren had had enough and escaped to the Common Room where she was meeting Remus.) Lily had to set things straight, make _him_ understand that last night had just been a _huge_ mistake.

"Last night was just a huge mistake." Lily said. James, who had been walking, stopped at the sound of her voice and turned around with a pleased look on his face. Lily didn't want to give him the opportunity to talk.

"I just want to make things perfectly clear that there is nothing going on between us, Ja- Potter…." Lily continued. Wanting to execute the operation quickly and cleanly, Lily attempted to speed up and pass him, hoping to disappear through one of the side passages before he could take the chance to respond, wishing to give off the idea that she, Lily, was in charge, and that there was to be no more mention of the previous night's happenings. Unfortunately, just as Lily began to launch herself into the fast moving stream of students, her path was abruptly blocked by a burly Ravenclaw, and Lily ended up standing awkwardly, trapped in the flow of traffic. Then James spoke, and Lily was left with no option but to listen as she waited for an opening in traffic.

"Okay, whatever you say, Evans," James said, ruining his mock-sincerity with a knowing smile. Lily fumed and turned around resignedly.

Blushing, she replied, "You know that I was _not_ in my right mind last night!" James pulled a face imitating that of a person trying to remember a far-off memory.

"You're right!" He said, eyes sparkling as though he'd just had an inspiring thought. "So maybe you'd like to try that again now that you _are _in your right mind!" he added.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Immediately James wanted to kick himself as he saw the look on Lily's face. If Alyssa were here, she would have punched him. Less than twenty-four hours after its creation, Plan A-and-a-Half was already unraveling.

"I don't believe you! You are such a-"

"Pig-headed loser with such a big ego that you're surprised I fit through the doorway?" James finished for her. Lily's expression immediately darkened. James was glad that most of the students had cleared out of the Hall and into the neighboring corridors by now, but was reluctant to bring the fact to Lily's attention and give her a chance to escape.

"Admit it, Lily, that _was_ what you were going to say, wasn't it? It's the same every-"

"Oh, don't even get me started," Lily said, making a threatening gesture in the air. James just couldn't resist.

"Started on what, exactly?" He said, grinning and remembering the night before in the Kitchen Corridor when Sirius and Alyssa had exchanged almost the exact same dialogue.

At just that moment, by almost spookily perfect timing, Sirius and Alyssa entered the Entrance Hall; they, apart from James and Lily, were now only students now in the Enterance Hall.

"Using my pick-up lines, are we, Potter?" Sirius called from across the room. As he got nearer to James, he leaned over and brought up his hand as if he were telling a secret.

"I don't blame you, they seem to work well," he said with a wink, indicating Alyssa. Lily glowered. Behind Sirius, she could see that Alyssa had turned a delicate shade of pink and was wearing a goofy sort of grin. Lily noticed that her robes were slightly disheveled looking.

"Well, I'm sorry if I have to deflate _your_ ego a bit, too, Black, but I must say that your pick-up line isn't working _this_ time." Sirius shrugged, spreading his hands in a gesture of cool acceptance.

"S'okay, I can take it, Evans… I'll see you around," he replied as he turned and headed toward the stairs. "Oy! Prongs!" He called back at James when he had reached the foot of the staircase.

"Yeah?"

"Common room at eleven." James gave Sirius a puzzled look and Sirius just shook his head before offering his arm to Alyssa and walking up the stairs. James watched them for a brief moment before he was pulled into the present again. He spun around to find that Lily had already made it to one of the exiting corridors and was on her way to the courtyard. James ran after her.

"Look! E- Lily? I'm…." he hesitated. "I'm _sorry_. I shouldn't have said those things. I know last night was a bit… well, I'm sorry. That was completely pig-headed and rude of me."

His words seemed to have the effect that James had hoped for, or at least partially, as Lily had stopped dead in her tracks. Slowly, she turned around.

"Okay, what do you want from me?" she said, half distrustful and half shocked. James paused for a brief moment to stop anything inappropriate from sneaking out, but Lily seemed to have read his split-second hesitation. She rolled her eyes and, with a sassy toss of her hair and a sigh, marched into the courtyard. James followed.

"Wait! Lily! I just want to carry on a civilized conversation for once! I'll be a perfect gentleman, I promise!" he called. Lily, several paces ahead, turned around partially.

"That's just it, Potter," she said. James scanned her face and found a look he hadn't seen before. What was it? Sad? Searching?

"You'd only be faking it," she finished softly.

He just needed a chance to prove that he really was a gentleman, James thought, deep down, to show her the _real_ self that he had inside. James stood there, discouraged by this new revelation caused by the look he had seen in Lily's face… Why was he giving up? James ran, searching for her. He didn't have to go far. Outside he heard a shrill shriek and harsh laughter. James looked around, scanning the courtyard for some hint as to what was going on. To his left, two Hufflepuffs crossing the courtyard, to his right, a few Ravenclaws passing by… a group of four Slytherins near the exit across the courtyard who were laughing, the sound of it bouncing off the cold stone walls and the icy snow on the ground. Then he saw a dark shape where the fountain was, out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see Lily standing in the fountain, gasping and holding her arms out away from her, bemused, as though she couldn't believe what had just happened. She was dripping wet.

James ran towards her.

"Surely, not you again?" Lily shot out defensively. "Argh!" She yelled, kicking the water in frustration. It splashed up and sprinkled James's face, biting at his skin. James hastily wiped it off with his scarf and pulled his cloak tighter around him.

"My essays!" Lily groaned. James looked to find blossoms of black ink floating on the surface of the chilled water, lifting off the parchment, as several of Lily's books floated away like lily pads. Lily went to gather them but, in the process, slipped; before James knew what he was doing, he went to catch her, stepping one foot into the fountain while doing so. His fast reaction surprised him, and by the look on Lily's face, he wasn't the only one.

"On the contrary, I thought you might need some help." James replied, immediately congratulating himself mentally for being so chivalrous and romantic. Lily shot him a quick glance before pulling away to fish around the fountain for her books, which had, due to the continuous blast of the enchanted fountain, made their way to the opposite side of the pool. James removed his foot from the water and retrieved the few books that had missed the water and were lying on the pavestones, wincing as the merciless winter air chewed through the leather of his right shoe and began feasting on his wet sock.

Straightening up and trying to maintain balance as the blood rushed from his head, James noticed that Lily was climbing out of the fountain. He pranced over to the edge and offered her his hand, but not before checking himself and taking some of the spring out of his step, for his sake as much as Lily's. James didn't doubt Lily's skill at casting very mean charms, even despite the fact that her fingers must be frozen solid. Lily ignored the proffered hand, although that might have been because she was carrying about a dozen books of various sizes in her arms; James was hopeful.

Hugging her books to her self trying to keep warm, Lily stepped with dignity out of the fountain. James looked around and found that the courtyard was now completely empty. Turning back to Lily he saw that her hair had frozen into little icicles and found himself fighting back a snicker. With a flourish, he handed her back her books, leaving her looking very awkward, trying to balance all of them in her arms.

James imagined in that split second several romantic moments that potentially could have played out, but none of them did. Again, James blamed it all on the enormous load of books Lily was carrying. He watched her begin to leave as she said a quick thank you over her shoulder. What! She was just going to leave? James, playing his last card, did the first thing that came to him. As Lily walked away, he took careful aim with his wand and performed a silent drying spell, then watching in satisfaction as, for the second time that day, Lily stopped dead in her tracks. She turned to see James drying himself off as though nothing had happened.

"You are desperate, aren't you," Lily said, but this time with a small, gratifying smile on her face. James did not respond immediately, taking his time to dry out his shoe completely.

"We should go to the hospital wing," James said simply, thinking that if he had any hope of being gentlemanly, he would have to _not_ mention anything about what had just occurred. "Pepperup Potion," he added when he saw Lily's confused look. Lily looked as though she was about to refuse but, before she could say anything, sneezed. James, not saying anything else, smiled to himself and walked towards the nearest corridor entrance, turning back only when he reached the archway. Behind him, Lily was speed walking to catch up. Perhaps this would be easier than he thought?

The walk up to the hospital wing had been a bit awkward as Lily did not talk for the first few minutes, except to say thank you once when he opened a door for her, and then again when he offered her his hand when her wet shoes slipped squeakily on the stone floor. She didn't' take it, but James didn't entirely think that she ignored it, either.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Once in the hospital wing, Lily was immediately taken hostage by the young Madam Pomfrey, who swaddled her in several blankets and made her lie down in bed while she retrieved the Pepperup Potion from a cabinet across the ward. James, after standing around awkwardly, pulled up a chair and sat next to Lily's bedside table, where he was well out of the way of the bustling nurse. She wasn't sure why, but Lily felt semi-self conscious lying down while James just sat there, even with the fact that she was wrapped in five wooly blankets and a quilt. Or perhaps that _was_ the reason that she felt self conscious. Feeling like some strange specimen laid out for inspection, Lily tried to lie still, ignoring the urge to simply roll of the bed, bound in quilts, out the door and back to her dormitory where she could hibernate possibly mull over the day's events.

Just as Lily urgently jerked herself out of a daydream in which she was trying to roll up the staircase, only to roll back down again and get caught by James, Madam Pomfrey came scuttling back with a bottle of potion and two glasses. At Lily and James's questioning looks, she said, "One for you, too, Mr. Potter. I don't like the idea of you standing outside in weather like this," glancing briefly out the window above Lily's head as if admonishing the snow clouds outside.

Madam Pomfrey poured out two measured glassfuls of bright orange potion. The spicy smell made Lily sneeze, causing Madam Pomfrey to cluck disapprovingly, apparently mistaking the sneeze for a sure sign that Lily was getting sick. Personally, Lily thought that all this was nonsense, and wanted to get out of her blanket casing and down to the Great Hall for dinner, having traded the desire for going upstairs with the desire for dinner as a result of her latest daydream.

Madam Pomfrey apparently refused to leave until they had both swallowed the last drops of their potion, so James stopped protesting (which was what he had been doing for the past five minutes) and clinked his glass with Lily's.

"Cheers." He said, grimly, before wrinkling his nose and tossing his potion down in one gulp. Lily followed suit, only less dramatically, wriggling some to loosen the cocoon of blanket around her so that she could swallow properly. Immediately, she felt her face flush, and she was sure that she had turned a bright shade of red. Her blankets were now uncomfortably warm and Lily struggled to free herself before she started sweating too much.

Lily could feel the beginning of another awkward silence coming on, but before she could spend too much time casting around for something to say, she was spared the trouble when two jets of steam shot out of James's ears. Lily began to laugh but at that moment, felt a sudden hot pressure in her head, immediately relieved as two jets of steam exploded from _her_ ears, sending her long red hair flying. Now it was James's turn to laugh as Lily grinned sheepishly. Apparently alerted by the ruckus, Madam Pomfrey bustled in from her office. Noticing the steam still floating in the air, or perhaps the way Lily's hair had taken to standing up at strange angles, she bid the two of them permission to leave, given that they promise not to go "frolicking outside in such bad weather."

After James had helped to free Lily from her blanket prison and the both of them had assured the nurse that they would do nothing that bore any resemblance to "frolicking," they turned and started walking up the corridor. James fished in the pocket of his robes for something, leaving Lily to wonder exactly where they were going. Then James spoke.

"Oh, bugger! Looks like dinner has been going on for a bit now." He paused, then looked at Lily. "May I escort you?" he said, offering her his arm. Lily hesitated for a moment, then, with what she hoped was a surreptitious look around to make sure no one was watching, she took it. James grinned like a child.

"Excellent," he said, beaming, before starting off down the corridor, nearly dragging Lily behind him when she refused to move. James turned around, his grin sliding off his face to be replaced by one of alarm and confusion at the fact that Lily seemed anchored to the floor. Lily grinned.

"The Great Hall is _that _way," she said, pointing in the opposite direction. There was a pause of silence.

"... Excellent."

James was just reaching over to open the doors of the Great Hall for Lily, and Lily took the moment to shake her arm out of his and straighten out her robes before the golden light of the usual thousand floating candles spilled out of the Hall in front of her. They made their way into the noisy room, James searching for the rest of his Marauder clan while Lily looked for any trace of Alyssa's short hair or Lauren's blonde head. She had just spotted the light glinting off of Lauren's ponytail she heard the sound of glass shattering at her feet, immediately feeling cold water soaking her stockings for the second time that day. Lily looked down at a water glass that had been thrown by some Slythrins, whose table they were passing by. Looking up, she saw the malevolent sneer of Bellatrix Black and several dark-eyed figures whose faces she did not analyze fully before turning away. James, who had stopped when he noticed Lily had stopped, looked back. Lily saw him reach for his wand, but she merely tapped the toe of her wet shoe on the stone floor to dust off any glass bits before proceding to catch up with James. She shook her head slightly to tell him to put his wand away, which he did with much grumbling of words that rhymed very much with "ham" and "itch."

When they reached the Gryffindor table, James and Lily automatically split, James moving to the other side of the table (in order to sit with Sirius, Lily presumed). Lily almost immediately spotted the back of Lauren's head. She was sitting next to…Remus Lupin, of course! He, naturally, was sitting across from Sirius, who was sitting next to Alyssa and was now pushing away Peter's plate, which was on his other side, across the table next to Remus, so that James could sit down. In the brief two seconds it took to watch all this, Lily realized that, in fact, both her friends were now quite involved with the Marauders and she was not, leaving her feeling disconnected, exiled… unless…. Lily's gaze traveled to James… but no.

Alyssa looked up briefly from her conversation with Sirius and waved to Lily, pointing her to the seat next to Lauren, which Lauren had saved with her book bag. Lauren, deeply engrossed in talking to Remus, did not bother to say hello, but pulled her bag off Lily's seat with one hand without looking and let it slide to the floor so that Lily could have a seat. Lily sat down heavily, noticing that while the Marauders and her two friends sat in an even block formation, Lily was left the odd one out, a weird addendum to the nice rectangle that the others had formed at the table. It was this, more than her wet shoe or the fact that dinner was now nearly over, that made her feel like curling up and not being talked to again. Of course, it wasn't like anyone was making any effort to talk to her anyways, Lily noted. Alyssa and Sirius were having some sort of flirty argument while Peter watched from behind his goblet, and Remus and Lauren were now deep in conversation about some new book or another, no doubt. James was piling up on what leftovers he could salvage from the plates in front of him, including Sirius's. Not sure entirely why, Lily fought back a burning sensation in her eyes and reached blindly for the nearest piece of food. Glancing at it she saw that it was the only thing left in front of her, a small pecan tart. But just as Lily was about to grab it, it melted away, along with the surrounding crumbs sticking to the golden serving platter, leaving Lily to stare dumbly at the now-clean plate in front of her. Dinner was over.

Immediately, all the students rose en masse to go to their dormitories. Sirius and Alyssa rose rapidly, (halfway entwined around each other before they'd even made it out of their chairs, Lily noted sourly); before they disappeared out the nearby side door out of the Great Hall, Sirius yelled back to James, "Remember, Prongs, common room at eleven!" Lily glanced at James. He didn't appear to have heard Sirius's reminder, whatever it meant. He was busy staring at his fork, which was halfway raised to his mouth, apparently in shock that his dinner had just disappeared while he was in the process of eating it. He looked up at Lily and put down his fork, smiling; she looked down and realized that her hand was still extended in a mime of grabbing the last pecan tart. Lily sighed before standing up to go.

"Enjoying your stew, I see?" Lily said ironically, nodding at James's empty plate as she walked over to stand in front of him. James stood and nodded enthusiastically, grinning.

"And what deliciously scrumptious treat were you feasting upon before the house elves whisked it away?" he asked in return. Lily shrugged.

"I didn't get to eat anything. It disappeared when it saw me coming," Lily replied in what was supposed to be a humorous tone, although Lily noted that it sounded a lot more despairing than she wanted it to. James motioned to her.

"Come over here," he said, indicating his side of the table. Lily glanced around and started to move toward the nearest end of the long table so that she could walk around. James stopped her with and exclamation.

"What in the name of _Merlin_ are you doing? Just come under!" James said, with a look of mock astonishment on his face. Lily gazed uncertainly at him, and James motioned for her to duck under the table instead of walking the extra fifteen feet to go around it. Lily shrugged, then ducked under, popping up on the other side, careful not to bump her head on the underside. She stepped over the bench and joined James where he was standing, just inside the side door Sirius and Alyssa had disappeared through earlier. When Lily reached him, James turned around and proceeded to the point in the hall where it turned either left or right. Lily watched as he made a show of peering cautiously around the corners. Lily yelled after him.

"What on earth are you doing, Potter?" She thought she saw him wince slightly at the sound of his surname instead of his first name, but then he turned around beaming, as though he had only just noticed she was there.

"Excellent idea, Evans!" he exclaimed. "Make lots of noise. That'll let them know we're coming!" And with that, he began clapping his hands loudly over his head and singing tunelessly in a loud voice that echoed across the apparently deserted corridors. Lily stared at him incredulously before bursting into laughter, rather unwillingly. The noise of it bounced away down the stone floor to mingle with the echoes of James's singing, forming a noisy duet that made the hair on the back of Lily's neck stand on end. After a moment, James stopped and turned to face her.

"What are you doing?" Lily said again after she had recovered from her outburst, sure that James hadn't heard her the first time.

"I'm giving Sirius and your friend some due warning that we were coming, so that they could finish up whatever they were doing and flee," James explained, as though it were some master plan to break into Gringotts. Lily made some noncommital noise, secretly acknowledging in her head that it was quite a wise plan.

"But James," she said, putting her hand over her mouth in a mime of deep thinking and furrowing her brow, "they're not _here_." James looked up, as though startled by this news, and spun around wildly as though he though he might spot the snogging couple spying on him from behind a statue.

"By Jove, you're right!" he exclaimed. Suddenly, he grabbed Lily's hand, which she still had in front of her mouth to hide the fact that she was smiling.

"Don't eat your hand," he said to her, like a parent to a four-year-old, "I know you're hungry. We're going to get food!" James began to pull her by the hand down the corridor on the left at a fast pace, Lily trailing reluctantly behind.

"James, it's late, we should be in bed," Lily said quietly. Lily heard James bite back a snicker, and a moment later rolled her eyes as she realized he was probably on the verge of saying something very inappropriate. A second later, though, she found herself admiring the fact that he had refrained from saying it.

"Sent to bed without dinner? Why, Dumbledore wouldn't approve!" James gasped theatrically. James was acting very strange, Lily noted. Which, of course, she told herself, was perfectly normal.

Pretty soon, Lily noticed, the hallway began to get warmer, and there were now torches on the wall. In the distance she thought she saw something shining, but she wasn't sure. It was at that moment that she noticed that James had slowed down and that he still had her hand. Lily, under the pretense of tucking her hair behind her ears, drew her hand out of his. The shining object ahead was, as it turned out, the golden frame of a huge painting, in which was portrayed a bowl of fruit. James reached up to tickle the pear in the middle of the bowl and Lily watched in amazement, partly because she realized how tall James was, and partly because the pear, upon being tickled, dissolved into giggles. Two seconds later, James protectively put his arm over her head as the portrait swung outwards. Lily ducked, although she was sure that in reality, she needn't have worried; the portrait was a good few inches above the top of her head. After she straightened up, she saw James making his way into the kitchen, and followed suit.

Immediately, Lily was surrounded by little house elves, all dressed in golden pillowcases, and, after requests for what she would like to eat were made by at least half a dozen of them, Lily found herself standing in the middle of the room, having been herded there by the house elves, holding a platter of roast beef and a crock of French onion soup. Lily, balancing her cargo, made her way over to a scrubbed wooden table near the fire, where James was already seated. Lily set down the plate and crock and turned to see that a whole train of every kind of food imaginable was winding its way towards the table, held up on the hands of the little elves. She couldn't help but laugh.

After being ushered into her chair across from James by two house elves, the train of food arrived at the table. James seemed very pleased as he watched all the plates stacking one upon the other, while Lily was quite concerned that the table wouldn't be able to hold it all. James apparently noticed her worried look, because after the house elves had backed away (after much thanks from Lily), James said, "You know, Lily, you really should loosen up a bit." Lily gave him a slightly affronted look through a croissant that she was biting into, but James continued, "Duck under more tables. Stay up later. Go on late-night expeditions to the kitchens with the pig-headed losers." Lily blushed slightly.

"Oh, stop it!" she said, embarrassed.

"Here you go again! You're being all polite and afraid to insult people!" James's tone was serious, yet cheerful.

"And you, James Potter, _you_ are just the opposite!" Lily blurted out. James swelled with pride, his mouth quite full of what Lily thought was both chocolate éclair and beef stew. James swallowed before speaking.

"Hmm, well, that was a good start, Lily, but not as insulting as I would have hoped. I know you can do better," was all he said before taking another bite of food. Lily rolled her eyes.

"I don't _want_ to insult you, James," she said matter-of-factly. James nearly choked.

"What!" he said into his food. Lily only smirked and rooted deeper into the mountain of food before her to unearth her French onion soup.

"You can't be serious," James cried, "you _love_ insulting me. If you stop now, I'll start to miss it," he finished, with a nod to emphasize his point.

"Well, fine then," Lily countered, "_You_," she said, pointing her spoon at James's face, "appear to be a big proponent of ducking under tables, yet I can hardly see why. Your head wouldn't fit." Lily smirked in triumph, but James grinned. Grinning seemed to be a trademark move for him, Lily noted.

"Okay," said James, standing up, "I'll prove to you that me and my enormous head _can_ fit under a table." And before Lily could stop him and tell him that there was really no need and that she was just joking, James was on his way under the table. Suddenly, he stopped, detoured, banged his head on the side of the tabletop (causing the many plates in the pile to shift dangerously), and rapidly reappeared.

"What's wrong with you?" Lily asked, now laughing.

"Er… I forgot you were wearing a skirt," James said, blushing and looking away, "so I refrained." Lily gaped at him, running her palms over the hem of her skirt as though checking to make sure it was still there.

"Well, aren't you being a gentleman!" Lily exclaimed, quite genuinely shocked at his behavior. James smiled mischievously and sat farther back in his chair, looking at Lily.

"I said I _refrained_. I didn't say that I wasn't tempted," James said softly, leaning towards Lily again. Lily felt her face grow hot and looked down. She spotted her spoon.

"I ought to stab you right here," she said, picking up her spoon in a threatening manner. James only snickered.

"Well, you can try," he said through laughs, spreading his arms wide as though presenting a target.

"I would… but I'm not done with my soup yet," Lily said, returning to her bowl.

"Another time, then."

"Yes."

The duo's conversation gradually disappeared as they continued eating, the silence only punctuated occasionally as a house elf came to ensure that they had not run out of buttered crumpets or pumpkin juice. By the time they had both finished dessert, the stack of plates had shrunk reasonably, although Lily was still having trouble seeing what exactly James had on his plate on the other side of the table. When Lily looked up, she noticed that James seemed to be fiddling with something in front of him. Lily stood up to get a better view, and saw that it was a pocket watch.

"What time is it?" she asked, realizing that she had not even a general idea. She had completely lost track of time while she was, although she couldn't freely admit it, _enjoying_ herself with James.

"Nine. We should probably get going."

"Yeah, you're right," Lily agreed. As she and James began to rise from the table, however, James stopped and pulled something from the bottom of the pile of plates and held it up. Lily at first couldn't tell what it was, but then, upon closer inspection in the firelight, Lily saw that it was a wishbone.

"Did you have chicken?" James asked Lily. Lily shook her head.

"Why, isn't that from _your_ plate?" she replied, confused when James shook his head.

"No, I found it at the bottom of the pile…." he said, frowning in thought. After a moment, he shrugged, offering one side to Lily to pull, holding the other half with his pinky. Lily grabbed the other side with her pinky, closed her eyes, and pulled. There was a snap, and Lily opened her eyes to see James grinning, holding the bigger half.

"You cheated." Lily said, smiling. James pouted and shook his head like a little boy, making her laugh all the more.

"You know," Lily said, with the air of a storyteller, "when I was little, my parents had this tradition every year at Christmas where they would take a wishbone and…." Pretty soon Lily found herself swapping funny childhood stories with James, the pocket watch lying forgotten on the tabletop….

"You know, we should probably get going now," Lily said, pointing at the watch. It read ten minutes until ten o'clock. James picked it up and looked at it, apparently lost in thought.

"Yeah… yeah, you're right…." James said, pulling out of his reverie and looking up at Lily.

"It's a nice watch," Lily commented, motioning towards it with her half of the broken wishbone, which she was still holding and had been fiddling with while telling her story.

"Yeah. It was my grandfather's, and then he gave it to my dad. Then, one day, my dad came to me and said…."

Lily and James were both still laughing at the table an hour later after James gave an amusing rendition of the time that he and his father had gone to watch a parade. His performance had involved a rather good show of James juggling two bananas and a treacle tart, and at one point James had actually called in two of the house elves to stand in as extras while he did an impression of the whole marching band tripping over a banana peel that James had dropped.

Lily noticed the pocket watch again and picked it up.

"James!"

James, who had returned to juggling bananas for Lily's enjoyment, was distracted by her sudden urgency. The two airborne bananas splattered two seconds later on the pavestones with a comical squishing noise. Lily ignored it.

"What?" James asked quickly, eyes wide, afraid he had unknowingly done something rude and offensive.

"It's ten forty five."

"Oh," James said, in a tone that might have been hinting at '_so what?_,' although Lily either did not notice or did not care. James heaved a sigh of relief when he realized that Lily was not offended by smashed bananas and was not about to banish him from her sight.

"We really should get going. _Really_," Lily added, acknowledging the fact that the two of them had actually been in the process of "getting going" for nearly the past two hours.

"Heh," James said, "see, here you go again, Lily, getting all uptight about staying out late," he added, with a smile. "You really scared me, the way you said my name, I thought you were going to yell at me."

Lily winced. "I see I've created quite a reputation for myself." James looked up at the ceiling as though pondering the fact.

"…Well, yes… I suppose you have," he said. After a moment, he motioned her towards the portrait hole and held it open as she stepped out.

"But there's a way to fix that," said James, climbing out of the portrait hole himself and ducking so that it could shut itself.

"And how is that, oh knowledgeable one?" said Lily, with a theatrical bow that might have been laced with sarcasm. James only smirked and waved his hand in a nonchalant sort of way.

"Easy. In fact, thanks to my expert guidance, you will be well on your way to _unraveling_ your puffed-up reputation by the end of the night!" When Lily continued to give him a confused, blank stare, James took a deep breath and continued on in the same voice a salesman might affect.

"In my easy Step-by-Step Plan," James said, waving his hands as though laying out a diagram in the air before Lily's eyes, "you can quickly and easily leave the past behind you and-"

"James? Shut up." Lily said. James only laughed, although Lily was quite glad when he dropped the salesman act.

"Fine," James sighed, and fell quiet. They continued to walk along the corridor again, for Lily had stopped previously in order to stare and yell at James more efficiently, and neither of them spoke. After five seconds of silence, Lily couldn't stand it any more.

"_Well?_" she asked, a bit frustrated. James only gaped at her.

"You told me to shut up!"

"Yes…."

"So I did." James stated simply. Lily only rolled her eyes, which did not seem to have much effect on James, although Lily did notice that out of the corner of her eyes, he was smirking.

"You are impossible. I hate it." Lily muttered, although she was not truly angry, but merely annoyed at the fact that James was so… James-ish. Suddenly, James piped up.

"Anyways, Step One: You must never be too dignified to duck under tables when it is sensible to do so," James said, grinning at Lily in that infuriating way.

"Do you never stop grinning!" Lily half-shouted.

Lily and James waited for the echoes to clear as they listened intently. Sure enough, the wheezy mutterings of the caretaker could be heard, his footsteps coming closer from the Great Hall. James didn't wait to say anything; he grabbed Lily's hand and they both took off running in the opposite direction.

At the end of the corridor, Lily paused briefly but was jerked along as James steered them to the right, around the corner that Alyssa had come the night before when Plan A-and-a-Half was formed. They ran up a flight of stairs, through a secret passageway disguised as part of the wall, and only stopped when they were on the seventh floor. Lily was quite out of breath, unlike James, who merely cleared his throat before speaking.

"Ahem… as I was saying," he continued as though he had not been interrupted, causing Lily to gape at him disbelievingly, albeit silently, as she hadn't yet managed any proper breathing pattern, "Step Two: You must go on late-night adventures with mischief makers," James stated simply. "Like myself," he added, with a small bow. Lily only rolled her eyes.

"Yes, well, consider it a 'thank you' for rescuing me from the fountain… and what about Step Three?" Lily asked, indicating that they should start walking to the common room entrance. "I mean, not that I particularly care what sort of reputation I have, be it 'stiff and studious' or 'dull and boring,' so long as it isn't something untrue or unpleasant." James smiled to himself and nodded slightly.

"Step Three," James continued, taking Lily's hint and beginning to walk forward at a slow pace, "is this: you must not care what other people think."

"Wouldn't that go under the whole 'Thou must not be too dignified to duck under tables' thing?" Lily asked. James looked mildly confused.

"There's a Step Four, too," he said hastily, "and that is, you must never question my ability to lay out a Three Step Plan." Lily laughed.

"Not even if that Three Step Plan has _Four_ steps?" she asked jokingly, in response to which, James mimed counting on his fingers and acting very confused. After a moment he grinned again and shrugged, unconcernedly. He reached into his robes and pulled out his pocket watch, which shone in the moonlight from the window they were coming up on. Not far ahead of them Lily could see the Fat Lady's portrait on the wall on their right.

Suddenly, Lily jumped as the watch began making funny winding noises; a second later, it let out a soft, high chime…. One… two… three… four… Lily counted them, ending at eleven as they reached the portrait hole. Without meaning to, Lily yawned, hoping that James didn't notice in the dark.

"Password?" the sleepy Fat Lady said, and Lily was quite pleased that she hadn't started telling the two of them off for being out so late.

"Porlock," James said, glancing at Lily to check that it was correct. Lily nodded. The portrait hole swung open about a foot, but before Lily begin to move inside or register what she was seeing, James had suddenly seized the Fat Lady's portrait frame and slammed it shut again.

"Ow!" the Fat Lady shrieked at James, at the same time that Lily cried, "What are you doing!" James looked like a cornered animal.

"Uh… I… forgot! I'm sorry, Lily, I forgot to… um… show you something," he stuttered awkwardly, putting on a very unconvincing show of knowing what he was doing. "Sorry," he added to the Fat Lady as she glowered down at him, giving him a hearty "Hmph!" and staring determinedly in the other direction. James quickly grabbed Lily's hand and dragged her forcefully up the corridor towards the large window at the end while she muttered various confused exclamations.

"James, what is the _matter_ with you? You'll be lucky if she even lets us in now. We'll have to spend the night out here!" Lily said with frustration.

"I wouldn't mind that," James said under his breath.

"Ex_cuse_ me?" Lily whispered dangerously, eying James in a way that could only be described as semi-murderous. James quailed.

"I said, 'I wouldn't say that,'" James whispered back. "She might hear you and get ideas." Lily sighed heavily in response.

"So what where you going to show me?" she asked impatiently. James looked as though he was about to say something, but changed tack before actually speaking.

"Step Number Five," James said before Lily interrupted him.

"_Step Number Five?_ You insulted the Fat Lady and locked us out of the Common Room so you could tell me-"

"No," James said, silencing Lily with a finger, "Step Number Five is this: Never walk in on a friend while they are, er, _busy_. Snogging." James clarified, at Lily's half confused, half exasperated look.

Frowning, Lily asked, "Why, who's in there?"

"Guess." James said ironically.

Lily sighed in a fed-up sort of way. "I'll pay you a Galleon if it isn't Sirius and Alyssa, and I'll pay you two if they're sitting in an upright position," Lily said as though she had an unpleasant taste in her mouth.

James winced. "I'm going to decline that offer." The two stood in silence for a moment. Two seconds later, Lily's curiosity got the better of her.

"Sofa?" she asked. James shook his head.

"Floor."

"Oh gosh." Lily said with distaste. "Please tell me they were at least wearing their shoes?" James thought for a moment.

"Don't know. I'm glad I don't know," he replied. Lily nodded in agreement. Suddenly, James started laughing. He laughed so hard, and for a very long time, he was unable to say anything as Lily stood there staring down at him, a puzzled expression on her face. When James had finally regained some composure, he responded to Lily's questioning glare.

"Common Room, eleven o'clock."

"What?"

"Sirius mentioned that earlier, but I had no idea what he was talking about…. He and I were talking yesterday, and-" James stopped talking, figuring that he would prefer not to let Lily in on the late-night meeting that he, Sirius, and Alyssa had held in the kitchen corridor, during which Sirius had hinted at a snogging fest at eleven o'clock the next night. James didn't think that Sirius would _really_ go through with… well, actually… never mind that. James shook his head when Lily persisted in questioning him.

"What are you talking about?" Lily asked, now annoyed that James had dropped his line of conversation, but James only shook his head more.

"Nothing. Just forget about it." James paused and listened to the silence that was punctured only by the soft rattling of the windowpanes at certain windy intervals. After a few moments, he muttered something about checking to see if Sirius and Alyssa were done yet. The two crept back over to the Fat Lady's portrait, who stiffly offered their extended apology and reluctantly opened for them.

Lily shut her eyes and listened for sounds of movement. Nothing. She peeked one eye open carefully. The floor was clear, save for one couch cushion that remained on the rug. She heard James make a disgusted noise. The clock struck eleven fifteen behind them.

Lily, not wanting to fall victim to any more awkward let's-stand-here-and-wonder-what-to-say-next moments, began to trudge towards the Girl's Dormitory staircase. Soft footfalls on the rug behind her told her that James had followed suit. All was quiet until a Christmas bauble slid off one of the branches of the Christmas tree in the far corner, hitting the ground and shattering. Lily turned to face James at the foot of the staircase.

"So."

"So," he replied with a smile.

"I just wanted to say…" Lily paused. "Thank you," she finished. "Thank you for everything tonight. It was…."

"Fun?" James offered. Lily was silent. After a moment or two, she spoke.

"Yeah. Fun. It was fun. Thank you."

James smiled. "Consider it an early Christmas present." Lily nodded after a second, as though registering and then approving of the idea. "This was one of the best Christmas eves I've had in a long time," James added.

"Good."

Another stretch of silence during which Lily glanced at various objects around the room, all of which happened to be located very far away from James's face. James stared at Lily. As she finally decided she had spent enough time refusing to look him in the eye, Lily pulled her gaze back towards James in time to see him leaning toward her. Lily quickly dropped her head and muttered a "Good night, James," before quickly turning and scurrying up the stairs behind her. It was only after he heard the door shut and echo in the distance that James replied with a soft, disappointed "Good night."

James turned and began to amble slowly towards the boys' staircase, but before he could reach the doorway, a blonde-headed figure tumbled out of the Christmas tree next to it and landed in a heap at James's feet.

"Hello, Prongs. I see you've had quite a successful night," the pile of robes greeted him politely.

"The _last_ time I saw you in a Christmas tree, Moony," James said, offering a hand to help his friend up, "you were doing some things that would be considered highly uncharacteristic of a Prefect." Remus did not reply but contented himself with dusting his wrinkled robes. James continued, "Can I assume that you were carrying on with something similar tonight?"

Remus continued with the dusting charade feebly for a few moments before giving it up entirely. He shrugged before saying, "Let's just say that, in respect to _that_ element, I was a bit luckier than you were tonight."

James grinned and clapped him on the back, but his expression immediately changed as he stopped and said, slightly uncomfortably, "Er… she's not still… in there, is she?" he asked timidly, motioning at the tree behind him and simultaneously edging away from it with his back to it. Remus shook his head violently, sending his sandy hair flying gracefully around his face.

"No, no, no… she ran off up to her dorm after she realized Alyssa and Sirius had… er…."

James cut Remus off. "S'okay, I know, I saw them. Accidentally. Sadly." He stuffed his hands into his pockets morosely, for thinking about his two best friends getting up to… mischievous behavior… had reminded him (to his great displeasure) that _he_, James, had not. James felt something thin and hard in his pocket, and retracted his hand to find his half of the wishbone. Remus stared at it as James rotated it slowly between his fingers.

Remus shook his head before saying, "My, my, Prongs, I didn't know you were so desperate that you had resorted to lucky charms… which are no replacement for the real thing, I might add."

"What?"

"_Charm_. Charm her. Charm Lily, and you won't have to go wishing on chicken bones to get yourself a good snogging," said Remus, placing a hand on James's shoulder and guiding him towards the staircase in the fashion of a wise father talking to his son. James shrugged the hand off and began poking Remus savagely with the wishbone, who tried to fend him off with swipes of his sleeves.

"I don't need _you_ to go assuming things, Moony. It's not what you think."

"Okay, then," Remus sighed, shrugging and ceasing his defensive swiping, "but I have some Spell-O-Tape if you'd like to tape that to your head board, you know, for sweet dreams or something," he finished slyly.

James him up the stairs, trying frantically to spear him on the end of his wishbone, Remus's laughs and James's war cries echoing off the walls long after the heavy thud of the dormitory door had faded.

**I know, I know, it's been forever, but hopefully this super-long chapter will make it up to you all... school is up again really soon, and work will take even more time away, but I'll do the best I can!**


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